Am.  Jour.  Pbarm 
Jan.,  1884. 
j        Vesicating  Principle  of  Croton  Oil.  23 
come  of  these  experiments  when  I  say,  that  subject  to  the  results  of 
more  extended  therapeutic  experiments,  this  non-vesicating  croton  oil, 
either  in  its  present  form  or  in  the  more  concentrated  form  in  which 
I  hope  to  obtain  it  furnishes  a  useful,  safe,  speedy  and  pleasant  purga- 
tive. 
Dr.  Meek  describes  the  result  of  the  experiments  conducted  by  him 
as  follows  : 
Report  on  the  Physiological  Action  of  the  Non-vesicating  Porton  of 
Croton  Oil. 
By  John  W.  Meek,  M.D.,  Lond. 
In  order  to  try  the  physiological  effects  of  the  n on- vesicating  por- 
tion of  croton  oil,  Mr.  H.  Senier  was  good  enough  to  supply  me  with 
some  of  that  portion  of  the  oil  as  isolated  by  him.  It  was  made  into 
the  form  of  pills  with  extract  of  hyoscyamus. 
Given  to  healthy  adults  in  doses  containing  the  non-vesicating  por- 
tion of  one-tenth  of  a  minim  of  ordinary  croton  oil,  beyond  slight 
nausea  and  some  sense  of  discomfort  no  appreciable  effect  was  produced; 
but  I  found  that  doses  containing  the  non-vesicating  portion  of  half  a 
minim  of  croton  oil  acted  as  a  powerful  purgative  in  from  three  to  six 
hours  from  the  time  of  administration.  In  some  of  the  cases  the  oil 
caused  griping,  but  not  in  all.  The  motions  were  usually  of  a  loose 
character,  though  not  containing  a  large  amount  of  fluid.  The  bowels 
were  usually  opened  two  or  three  times  at  intervals  of  an  hour  or  more 
between  each  action. 
In  the  doses  above  mentioned,  beyond  the  action  on  the  alimentary 
canal,  no  other  physiological  effect  was  observed  in  any  of  the  cases. 
— Pharm.  Jour.  Trans.,  Dec,  1883. 
THE  VESICATING  PRINCIPLE  OF  CROTON  OIL.1 
By  Harold  Senier, 
Fellow  of  the  Institute  of  Chemistry  and  of  the  Chemical  Society. 
In  a  former  paper2  I  gave  the  results  of  an  investigation  into  the 
action  of  alcohol  on  croton  oil,  and  found  that  under  certain  conditions 
it  separated  the  oil  into  two  parts;  the  one  part  vesicating,  the  other 
non-vesicating.  I  briefly  described  the  vesicating  oil  and  also  the  non- 
vesicating  oil,  which  I  have  since  shown  to  be  purgative. 
1  Read  at  an  Evening  Meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great 
Britain,  December  5,  1883. 
2  "Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans.,"  March  9,  1878. 
